You Are Loved
by B34chBum94
Summary: On the way to Neverland, Emma can't seem to sleep. Who joins her on the deck of the Jolly Roger? Prince Charming, of course! A look into Emma's past and a little father/daughter moment. Two-Shot. Rated T for mentions of abuse.
1. You Are Loved

******Hey guys, ****this is just a short two-shot that's been bouncing around in my head for a couple weeks. I'm just craving a daddy/daughter moment between David and Emma. This deals with some of Emma's past and why she is who she is.**

**Enjoy, Dist!**

**Warning: There is mention of abuse. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT (wish I did though)!**

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**You Are Loved**

Emma Swan couldn't sleep. She had tossed and turned for an hour or so before giving up. Now she has situated herself at the bow of the Jolly Roger, knees pulled up to her chest and chin resting on her arms. She tries to think, but the cries of the Lost Ones fill her head until she thinks it might explode. Emma closes her eyes and fights back the tears she swore she wouldn't let fall.

"Can't sleep either?" Emma jumps, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," David says as he walks up behind her. She must really be distracted if he had gotten that close without her noticing. "Mind if I sit?" David asks, handing her a cup of hot tea.

"Of course not." Emma responds, taking the offered cup gratefully. She stares back out over the ocean, towards the island that they all fear, yet hope, to reach.

A few moments pass. The silence between the two is not awkward, not in the way it would have been just a few short months ago. Now, they sit without talking, allowing the other to revel in his or her own thoughts; neither pushing the other nor feeling the need to fill the quietness that surrounds them. They're more alike than Emma first realized, but she is beginning to see it as time goes by.

"He's not one of them, you know?" David breaks the silence.

"Huh?"

"Henry's not crying. He knows we're coming." David looks at her, trying to reassure her.

"I know," Emma surprises him with her answer, "He has the strongest faith. He knows that we won't give up." She looks at David with a hint of a smile. "This family always finds each other, right?" She punctuates her statement with a playful nudge to his shoulder.

"Right." David replies with a slight chuckle. Again, silence falls between them for a few moments before he continues. "So, if you know that, why are you sitting out here listening?"

Emma hesitates for a moment. "I'm not sure I should say." David gives her a look, one that she knows she can mirror so perfectly. One that conveys "why, ""what's wrong," and "what aren't you telling me" all without saying a word. Emma shakes her head just a bit before looking down and inhaling deeply. "I'm sick of making you guys feel guilty."

David looks at his daughter, his little girl who has spent her entire life alone. This grown woman who is so afraid of being a bother or inconvenience to those around her. It makes him ache to hold her, but instead he settles for gently reaching over and lifting her chin so that he can look her in the eyes.

"Emma," He says slowly, "Please, talk to me." Emma can see the love and truth in his expression. He's not telling her that she won't make him feel guilty, he's assuring her that it's okay if she does. Nothing she can say will scare him away or stop him from loving her. He's telling her that she can trust him, and, for the first time in her life, she believes him.

Emma breaks eye contact, nodding her head slightly as she turns back to face the open sea before them. David lets his hand fall back to its previous spot on his cup, patiently waiting for Emma, allowing her to take her time. She breathes in deeply before beginning.

"It's just," she begins quietly, "It's just, I can't help thinking that I used to be one of those kids." Emma feels David pull in a sharp breath at her admission, but she continues. "I remember crying myself to sleep at night. I remember wishing I had a mom to sing me to sleep or a dad to tuck me in.

"I use to hope that one day a couple would show up at the door of the foster home or group shelter asking for me. They'd say, 'Emma we're so sorry we lost you, but now we're back and we want to take you home.' But they never came." Emma pauses, attempting to keep her voice level, trying to show as little emotion as possible. "After awhile, I gave up hoping. I accepted that that dream was never going to come true. That was my lot in life and no amount of wishing on shooting stars or dandelion seeds was going to change that."

She stops there and waits for a response from the man beside her. After a few moments, she's afraid there won't be one. Emma looks over a David's face. This time, it is he who is looking out at the ocean. His jaw is clenched and she can see the sorrow in his eyes. She looks down again, letting the silence envelope them once more.

"When did you stop?"

"What?" Emma raises her eyes to look at him again.

"When did you stop hoping that we'd come?" She can see that he's trying to hold back the emotion that is so evident in his voice. He doesn't want to scare her off. It makes her smile a little to think of how much he cares.

"When I was about eight," Emma admits and she can feel the sharp intake of breath once again.

_So young,_ David thinks,_ too young to stop dreaming_. "What happened?" He asks, not trusting himself to say more.

Once again, Emma hesitates before she responds. It's a story she would rather forget, but knows that she never will. A story that she has never shared with anyone. A story that she knows her father won't enjoy, but will want to hear just the same.

"About three months before my sixth birthday, I was placed with a new family. They were a young couple, probably about 30, and they were the best family I remember being with." She recalls the memories with the traces of a smile. "They treated me like I was their own. For the first time, I had my own room with toys bought specifically for me. That first week, I remember my foster mom took me out shopping so that I had clothes that fit me just right.

"For the next year and a half, everything was perfect. Every good grade I got at school was hung on the fridge. I never had to fight for attention. They came to every school function, every dance recital. My foster mom even made me a costume for Halloween. I felt like I finally belonged."

David sat watching his daughter's face as she told her story. He could see that she was no longer watching the waves on the water. She was off in a different time, a different place; one that held some of the few happy memories of her childhood. But soon he can see her demeanor change. The slight smile she that has been resting on her lips fades and her eyes lose their gleam. He can see her swallow the emotions that begin to rise as she continues her tale.

"Everything changed, though. Like it always does." Emma adds a small, subconscious shrug; one David knows to mean she's trying to not let her memories affect her. "My foster dad lost his job. They were doing a big layoff and he was one of the last hired, so he was one of the first to go. It wasn't a big deal at first. We lived off of his unemployment and their savings. They started using the checks they got for fostering me to help with necessities. They were certain that it'd all be okay." Emma pauses as she hears her voice start to crack. She takes a somewhat shuttering breath and continues.

"A few months went by and there were still no new jobs to be found. My foster mom started working as a waitress at a nearby restaurant. My foster dad was always out job hunting. Soon they started fighting about finances. At first, it was quiet, you know? Whispered arguments in the kitchen when they thought I was asleep or a hiss at each other here or there. It escaladed quickly, though. She would yell at him for not having found a job and he'd tell her she was being ungrateful. Soon they couldn't even stand to be around each other.

"That's when he started drinking. Like with the unemployment, it wasn't a big deal in the beginning. My foster dad wasn't a saint. He had enjoyed a few beers now and then. But… but he started staying out later and drinking more. Soon, he was drinking in the house while my foster mom was at work. It wasn't until the first time he actually got drunk that I realized everything was starting to fall apart. The first few times, nothing happened. He'd drink himself to sleep or she'd come home to find him drunk and get him to bed. Then one night everything changed"

Emma pauses, again, eyes closed. This is the hard part. This is where everything goes wrong. David watches silently, waiting patiently for her to continue. He reaches over and lays his gentle hand over her smaller one, letting her know that he's there for her. She gives his hand a squeeze, as if bracing herself.

"I was doing the dishes," she continues, eyes still closed. "That was one of my chores, washing the dishes after dinner. That night, though, one of the plates slipped out of my hands and shattered on the floor." David can hear the tears in her shaky voice, "Next thing I know, he's standing over me, yelling at me. He's calling me useless and clumsy. Telling me that I'm the cause of all of their problems. I couldn't remember him ever raising his voice at me and I thought it couldn't get any worse. But then he slapped me across the face, hard." Emma can feel a tear escape from its prison under her eyelid. "That's when I knew it was over. That's when I realized that this 'family' I thought I finally had was broken. After that night, the abuse kept coming. It wasn't anything I hadn't dealt with before, and it certainly wasn't the worst I would face, but that's when I knew. That's when I stopped believing."

More tears are making their way down Emma's face, but she has stopped caring. David sits next to her, seething with anger. That man had hit _his_ daughter, _his _little girl, not once but over and over again. He was the man who took her hope of a happy ending. David squeezes Emma's hand, more for both of them, using it to remind both of them that they're together and that she is safe.

"I stopped believing because after that I knew that nothing good could ever last. This 'family' that had seemed to care for me and love me turned out to be just as bad as those who didn't. After they sent me back into the system, my following experiences just confirmed my revelation. I was sent to homes where the parents didn't even pretend to care or were addicts who used the fostering checks to feed their addictions. Even in the good homes something went wrong. They couldn't afford me or they had to move. One way or another, it always ended with me back at a group home where no one cared if you lived or died.

"After awhile, I got fed up with being told I was worthless and unimportant. I was tired of being told that no one could ever love me. So when I was sixteen, I stole some money from my foster parents and took off. I thought that I could prove them wrong. Prove to them that I was worth something. But I never could."

As Emma finishes, she looks again across the vast ocean before her. She can feel David's hand in hers, but that's the only indication she has that he's still there. They sit in silence, once again, as the tears make their way down her face. It takes another few minutes before David breaks the silence once more.

"Did your mother ever mention how she became pregnant with you?" Well that was certainly not the response she was expecting. Emma looks over at David, the confusion clearly etched on her face. David chuckles a little, "I'll take that as a 'no'? In that case, I think it's my turn to tell you a story."

"It was a few months after I had woken Snow from the sleeping curse. We were in the middle of the fight to take the kingdom back from Regina and King George. We had been on the move for days, trying to figure out a plan without being overrun by King George's army. One night, a group of King George's men attacked us. They were led by a general known as Leviathan or, as you would know him, Lancelot."

"But Mary Margret said Lancelot had always looked out for her," Emma interrupts. "How could he do that if he was fighting for King George?"

"Well listen and you may find out," David smiles as he imagines for a moment a younger Emma sitting on her nursery floor, too impatient to wait for her Daddy to finish. The image fades all too quickly and David remembers his reason for this story. With a short glance at Emma, who, though interested, is still facing the blue sea before them, David returns to his storytelling.

"As we fought the King's men, I told Snow to split from the group. Lancelot, I believed, would be after me. I sent her away to keep her safe, telling her to meet me at the cabin where my mother was living. Apparently, Lancelot was not interested in capturing me because he followed and abducted your mother, taking her to King George.

"I was unaware of Snow's abduction and believed that she had gotten away safely. So, I continued with our plan to meet at the cabin. While there, King George's men attacked my mother and me, yet again. And though I was able to defeat them, my mother was injured during the attack. As I was trying to help her, Snow and Lancelot appeared, having gotten away from King George. With their help, I transported my mother to Lake Nostos, the same lake that you and your mother used to return to Storybrooke. Lake Nostos was said to have healing properties and I believed that, with its water, we would be able to save my mother's life.

"Upon our arrival, though, we found that the lake had dried up. We were only able to find enough water for a single sip. I gave it to my mother, but apparently it wasn't enough. She said that it would be all right, but that she was disappointed that she would never see Snow and me get married. Your mother had an answer, though, and asked Lancelot to perform a marriage ceremony. As soon as the ceremony was completed, my mother slipped away from us.

"After we buried her, your mother and I talked about the family we would have. My mother had had a pendant that was suppose to tell you the gender of your first-born child, even if you had yet to conceive. I asked Snow to try it. I was unaware, at the time, that my mother had already gotten Snow to test the pendent on the way to the lake. When they had tried, the pendent hadn't moved, showing that Snow would never have a child. Snow explained to my mother that when King George had captured her, he had cursed her so that she could never conceive a child. He had told her that not having a family was the worse pain one could have and that he wanted me to feel that pain. So when I attempted to use the pendent with Snow, she tried to refuse. She expected the pendent to stay still yet again, but this time it moved. Evidently, my mother had only pretended to drink the water and had asked Lancelot to use it in the wedding ceremony instead. My mother gave her life so that Snow and I could have a family."

David stops his story and looks at his daughter. He can see that tears have returned to her eyes and many were making their tracks on her cheeks. His own face is damp as well. Although he wonders if it may be a step too far, he wraps an arm around Emma's shoulders and pulls her into his side.

"Emma," He says in a low voice that portrays so much love and adoration, yet is still stern, "I need you to understand something. _**You**_ are worth more than any precious jewel or stone in any realm. _**You**_ are extremely important to so many people. And, Emma, most importantly, _**you**_ are loved more than you will ever know." With that, David presses a kiss to the crown of his daughter's head and holds her close as she cries into his shoulder.

He may not have been there for those nights she needed comfort after a bad dream. He may not have been there when she hurt herself and wanted a kiss to make it better. He may not have been there to mend her first broken heart. But he is here now and he has no intention of letting her go.


	2. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

They sit there for a while longer after her tears have subsided. It isn't until David notices her eyelids drooping that he stands and offers her a hand.

"Where are we going?" Emma asks in a drowsy voice as he leads her below deck.

"I think it's bedtime." David responds with a smile on his face. He leads her to her cabin and helps her into bed.

"You know, you don't have to stay here. I'm perfectly capable of putting myself to bed."

"I know." David looks at her with love so clearly visible in his eyes. "But tonight, your _dad_ is going to tuck you in and tell you a story."

"Didn't you already finish the story?" Emma asks as she settles into her bunk.

"Would you rather me leave?" David turns toward the door, ready to go if that's what she wants.

"No!" Emma all but yells in protest. She smiles a bit sheepishly as she continues, "I guess another story couldn't hurt." David smiles and takes a seat on the only chair in the room. "Just make sure it has a happy ending." Emma adds as she closes her eyes.

And so, Prince Charming sits at his daughter's bedside telling her one of his favorite stories that his mother use to tell him. It is a scene that is twenty-eight years in the making and has been painfully delayed, but David wouldn't change it for the world.

As the story comes to a close, David stands and walks towards his daughter's sleeping form. He brushes back a few strands of hair and leans down to place a kiss on her temple.

"Good night, my princess," he whispers, "I love you."

And as he walks to the door, he hears a sleepy voice say, "I love you, too, Daddy."

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**Just thought this was a nice little add-on, but not necessary for the main story.**

**RR!**

**~Dist**


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